Owls fall 56-48

We know that you want to know, so here it is: The Owls surrendered 748 yards to UH, the second-highest single-game total in school history. The Cougars (yep, yep) amassed 777 yards in a 61-34 win over Rice on Nov. 28, 1992. Nice factoid, eh?

As for the game, it mirrored last week’s victory over Southern Miss in a couple of ways. First, the Owls were opportunistic in turning five UH turnovers into 27 points. They scored 24 points off seven Golden Eagles turnovers at The Rock.

Second, after looking invincible on offensive over the first three quarters, the Owls shut down in the fourth. After totaling 389 yards by the start of the fourth quarter, the Owls accumulated just 52 on 15 plays in the final period. Chase Clement was sacked for the first (and only) time in the fourth, and the Owls turned the ball over twice in the final period after playing near-perfect football through three quarters.

Last week it was the defense that collapsed in the fourth, allowing 217 yards in the fourth after surrendering 205 through the first three quarters. Already missing Brian Raines, the Owls watched as Terrance Garmon and Robert Calhoun shuttled on and off the field Saturday afternoon. Injuries are making a bad defense look absolutely horrible.

Just remember: The Owls were 1-5 (and 0-2 in C-USA as opposed to 1-1) last season. You know what happened next, and with the performance of the offense at The Rob, another lengthy winning streak isn’t completely out of the question. Is it?

58 Responses

Great game, Rice is a ton better then what people think. Glad my school won but in all honesty Rice players outplayed us today and if it wasn’t for a great defensive stop (apparently the only one as you guys had been scoring at-will) game would have been yours.

A few observations from an old, non-technical alum viewing the game on TV out in the Hinterlands..1)It was a great game to watch (but, ultimately, not very satisfying, because of the fourth quarter loss.) 2) The offense has made great strides since the first game of the year. Lots of different sets and personnel combinations. More CREATIVE would be a better way to put it, 3) The defense needs improvement..although it went from the heights to the depths..we gave up the big play, and lots of them, 4)If we can get well, physically, the rest of the schedule offers potential wins every week, 5)This team, even with the defense getting badly wounded, never gives up, 6) I DEFINITELY can get behind this team and this coach.. and so should all of us, 7) See you at the Memphis game.

Our inability to play for a full 4 Qs is maddening. The gambling, blitzing defense that took us to the lead seemed to be reined in by the coaches in the 4th Q. As far as the offense is concerned I wish we would take more snaps under center and would use the option as opposed to the zone read a bit more. The pass protection held up pretty well until UH began to blitz late. Tackling….well whatever comment could be made wouldn’t be appropriate for a family newspaper.

It was good to get Armstrong and Smiter back, but now we have many more injuries to take care of. The extra time off we had for the S Miss and UH games helped a great deal but now it’s back to a normal length between games and that will probably impact the return of some players.

This loss hurts even more because we were so close to pulling it out. Keep in mind that we faced the league’s quickest and most explosive offense today…on the road. The wls were 20-point underdogs. I believe a run like last year’s is very possible. We have tough games at Marshall and SMU, but we get UTEP and Tulsa at home. Four of the final six are at home! Be there next weekend.

MK- please make sure to ask DB why he punted inside Coog territory on fourth down? He has done this at Baylor, Tech, UT, USM, and now against UofH. With a Mash-unit defense that had surrendered ~650 yards at that point in the game and had not shut them down all day and an Owl offense that had been consistently moving the ball, why do you punt?

Makes zero sense and given his theme from USM on the “probabilities” of outcome, I wonder what his answer would be on pros of giving UofH an extra 25 yards of field (given all the prior big plays) and their probabilitiy scoring vs. the Owls chances of getting the first down and keeping the mojo. Don’t need to have graduated from Rice to know the answer to that and guess what happens….Coogs drive down and score the winning TD. Herman made some great calls today..give him props but that decision IMHO was the worst coaching move of the day and another datapoint on a disturbing pattern of playing conservative/not-to-lose football.

I feel sorry for a bunch of kids that played their hearts out against a more athletic team. They deserved to win..

Coming off the win at USM I figured Rice would have a respectable crowd at the game. The turnout was pathetic for a school that is maybe 10 miles away. I am sure the team is scratching their heads also…

First off saying we had 1000 yards at the game is quite an overstatement, The schools are seperated by 4.5 miles and we brought 500 at the most. What a joke!

Now about the game, the Houston offense is sick. Not many teasm in the country can match the tandem of Avery and Alridge and they still have plenty of other weapons. That Ganaway kid id goiing to be special for them. Geez they turned the ball over like 6 times and still managed to post more than 700 yards and 50+ points. If the offense had not used some of the clock they would have gotten more than 1000 yards. It is clear we really get up to play Houston, but the question is can we keep playing our best football in front of a few thousand fans at home?

[Not 1,000 students, just 1,000 supporters period. And as someone pointed out, there weren't even that many Rice fans at The Rob. And isn't the college experience about doing college activities, not running home for a weekend when your school plays its archrival? I'm sorry for venting, but I've been on this beat for four years, and I keep getting excuses for why the students don't support the student-athletes (esp. football and basketball). From a point of observation, it's frustrating. - MK]

I think in general Rice’s support for football has been horrible this year. The fans still seem to be stinging from the Todd Graham exodus which is crazy because Bailiff is ultimately a much better fit for the school. He’s just dealing with some low numbers at certain positions due to bad recruiting by Hatfield late in his regime and also some dumb recruiting things Graham did.

UH fans should be chastised for booing the team like they did repeatedly throughout the game. If their fans would stop taking the attitude that we should never be losing to Rice in any sport (I guess outside of baseball since they do realize that’s unavoidable), they would be better fans. It’s a rivalry plain and simple.

[I made the unfortunate decision to get tickets for my family for the Bayou Bucket, and returned home to hear stories about UH fan dropping f-bombs and s-bombs with unabashed frequency around my daughter because the Coogs were losing. The booing was uncalled for, but that's the way UH fan behaves in football and basketball. They don't support their programs via attendance, behave crassly when they do, then blame everyone else for their image issues. Art Briles has built a solid program on Cullen Blvd with an otherworldly offense, but all I hear when I go over there are boos and profanities, and all I read are "Fire CAB" even after the Coogs win. Ridiculous. - MK]

There were plenty of woulda, coulda, shoulda in this game. But the team gave everything they had and they pushed UofH to their limit. They can play with anyone in CUSA so the rest of the season has plenty of upside.

One reason for the lack of Rice student fans is that this weekend + Monday and Tuesday are fall break. I was walking around campus and wondering where all the students were until I realized most of them were out of town.

MK, please congratulate your Editors for allowing you to work alongside the two Daily Cougar columnists Justice and Murphy. I would have thought the other team that put up 48 points would rate at least a positive comment but guess not. Maybe they will let you go with them to accept their Pulitzers….but if i I was you I wouldn’t book that flight any time in the future.

What kind of a turn out do you expect from students when they are asked to pay $30 to see a Rice game, of course only the die hard fans are going to show up. If the athletic department wants students to come they could at least subsized a portion of the cost…

[I made the unfortunate decision to get tickets for my family for the Bayou Bucket, and returned home to hear stories about UH fan dropping f-bombs and s-bombs with unabashed frequency around my daughter because the Coogs were losing. The booing was uncalled for, but that's the way UH fan behaves in football and basketball. They don't support their programs via attendance, behave crassly when they do, then blame everyone else for their image issues. Art Briles has built a solid program on Cullen Blvd with an otherworldly offense, but all I hear when I go over there are boos and profanities, and all I read are "Fire CAB" even after the Coogs win. Ridiculous. - MK]

Are you freaking kidding me? All sporting events have F bombs and S bombs dropped at em. If you want a pleasant atmosphere for your family, don’t goto a college football game. They’re all the same. Try going to a Wiggles concert.

If classless UofH is so trashy, take your family to a Chicago Bears game. Or a Cubs game. Or a UT game in Austin or A&M. HELL EVERY FREAKING STADIUM IN THE UNITED STATES HAS THE SAME DILEMMA AT BALLGAMES. Goto a Tech game too while you’re at it.

But, according to you. Only UofH does this. ok, sure man. whatever you say. Every crowd has their bad apples. Even your own precious tiny Rice allotment. I’ve had Rice fans scream in my mom’s face before games before I told the student to get lost. I’ve also heard Rice fans cuss at an event. Oh no! Call the WAMBULIENCE! I wasn’t ignorant enough to consider “all Rice fans are classly pieces of trash”. Which is clearly what your comment resides to.

Oh yeah? Ignorance huh?

“They don’t support their programs via attendance, behave crassly when they do, then blame everyone else for their image issues.”

Dude put the crack pipe down (oh wait! according to the ‘classy U of South Main! UofH is way to dangerous bc of the demographics and too many crack addicts in surrounding neighborhoods!). You lay smack about us not supporting our programs via attendance, last time I checked over 20K isn’t bad but isn’t good. We do have the biggest ‘diehard core fans’. We had more than Tulane in their own Dome a few weeks ago.

What does Rice average? How about the number of Owls that had to travel 7 miles to goto Robertson. Oh wait, that’s because UofH is too ghetto to attend sporting events at!

Do you even want to go into Basketball attendance?

Behave ‘crassly’ when we do? Dude, come tailgate with us and you’ll think different. God almighty.

Yep. We blame everyone else. You’re genius on that one. Where did you see that? On ‘te internets’? Fire CAB? On the internets? Cmon dude. You are justifying a few posts from retards on the internet then spout off by being ignorant on your own part and generalizing an entire fan base.

Booing is part of the game too right? Are we allowed to Boo? Am I allowed to honk my horn? Do UH fans need all spankings after the game?

Alright alright. I do think you do a fine job covering for Rice. I read your articles, watch your videos, and look at your blog. You do a great job. I just have to respond to that comment man. Did not agree with anything in that paragraph.

[Never called UH fans "classless" or "trashy" nor did I write that this only happens at UH, and I certainly didn't imply that all Rice fans are classy (I would never, ever do that; I've caught their smug act, too). Just making a statement on the activities of Saturday and how hostile the UH crowds can get when things turn the least bit sour. Perhaps it is an indictment on society as a whole when a mother and daughter have to attend a "Wiggles concert" in order to avoid a constant stream of profanities. - MK]

I don’t know where you sat. I was there with my whole family as was a friend of mine. I sat in 221 [Visitors] the first half and 202 [home] the second half. I heard one “s” bomb the whole game

[I’ll take that in mind next time. I enjoy games at The Rob (when not working), and who doesn’t get a thrill from watching that explosive offense. It’s just too bad that the experience can be ruined by those who elect to voice their displeasure with vulgar language. – MK

Just to clarify, the booing from the student section was due to Chase Clement’s taunting of the student section after taking a knee to end the half and was not directed at the team. As for the foul language around children, there is no excuse for that, and I hope it was a small minority participating in that behavior.

[I saw Clement taunt the crowd, too, and hopefully he was reprimanded by the coaching staff for exhibiting such poor sportsmanship. - MK]

When you say “UH fan” as you did, you imply, whether intentionally or not, that all UH fans are like this. This is wholly incorrect. Sitting through all four hours of the game and on both sides, I heard one expletive. Your fault so don’t get so defensive when you get called out on it.

[I didn't realize merely clarifying facts/intent made me defensive. Thanks for point out to me that it did. - MK]

Attendance for collegiate sporting events is a Houston problem, not a problem specific to a school. Houston has the same problem, though it’s not as pronounced now as it was two years ago. I was honestly surprised to see that much of a turnout from Houston fans after two consecutive losses.

Keep winning, and the fanbase turns around. Houston’s attendance numbers reflect that, and I think Rice will see the same results over time.

If Rice can keep Bailiff and he can bring in more talent like Clements, this rivalary could get far more interesting in 2-3 years.

[I simply believe that both programs deserve the full support of their fan base/student body/alumni, as well as that of the Greater Houston area. - MK]

MK, after reading almost 30 comments to your blog, most of which touched on poor Rice attendance or nasty UH fan behavior, I would like to know what this has to do with another poor game by the Owls.

It is the second successive game in which they blew a comfortable lead after 3 quarters, failing to even threaten to score in Quarter #4. This was not the way the team played last year.

I am not advocating luring Graham back, but is this all we can expect from a coach who inherited most of a bowl team?

Sure, they were blown out a lot, but they never stopped trying to score and some times did.

Why can’t Bailiff make ajustments during the game like Briles did? Wasn’t he the defensive head coach at TCU?

Last year, somehow or other, the team fought to the bitter end of games except in the initial UH game of Graham’s brief tour. I was in Tulsa when they won in overtime.

So where do we go from here?

[The Owls were 1-5 (0-2 in C-USA) midway through last season, and are 1-5 (1-1 in C-USA) midway through this season. Over the second half of this season, they will face six teams with some serious warts, and while it may be improbable, their winning six consecutive games isn't impossible. - MK]

Man it hurts to see our guys fight and battle and lose a game like that, but we gave it a great shot against a far better than average team (ask Alabama) and they are certainly to be congratulated. The most encouraging thing is that our lapses (missed tackles on third down in the first quarter) and letting the quarterback complete crucial third down, fourth quarter passes by not pulling up when he starts to throw and getting some hands in his face are fixable. That negates the claim that we quit swarming in the fourth quarter while the fourth quarter pass play when Dilliard tripped while spliting two defenders would have more than likely been a six-pointer indicates that we were still going for it offensively in the fourth as well. Unfortunately, it looked as if Chase was a little amped up toward the end and made some bad plays. but we got off the deck when it looked like we were going to get it handed to us and MADE those short field opps by making plays. Unfortunately, we didn’t make enough of them in the end. Hopefully, there is another miracle in our basket and another Bowl game for the Coogs. Sad ending, great game!

A tough loss for the Owls, who gave it away as much as the Cougars won it. Owl fans have to be pleased with the overall trajectory of the program, however. More experience and depth on the defensive side of the ball will turn this game into a win (and the game against Southern Miss into a laugher rather than a nail-biter). My guess is that, starting next year, the Bayou Bucket’s going to be residing on South Main for a while.

It’s too bad, MK, that your family had to put up with the abuse that it received at Robertson. Consider the fact, however, that Houston rarely beats Rice at any sport, and the frustration that Cougar fans feel when contemplating yet another loss to the Owls can sometimes be overwhelming (lots of alcohol helps, too).

MK, the thing that hacked me off most was a UH idiot carrying a poster at midfield after the game saying “RICE GIRLS ARE UGLY”. What purpose does that serve? I was hoping one of our guys would take him down, but I realize they have too much class, discipline and composure.

At least some of the reason for the poor support was that casual Rice fans listened to all the idiots who said Rice would get rolled over by UH. The truth is there is little difference in the talent between the two programs. UH won but not by much. A few plays the other way could have given Rice the win. But they did and the (slightly) better team won.

I was there. I was very disappointed in the attendance. Two years ago Rice brought a lot of people. I guess it was because it was the first game of the year and Rice fans were hopeful. But Rice fans tend to get discouraged and attendance goes way down towards the end.

A lot of Rice fans miss some great November days at Rice Stadium.

But if there were 26k people in that stadium, I’ll eat my hat, it was less than 20k. UH has there own attendance problems bussing in high school students and trying to bribe students to come with shirts and free food. I bet Oklahoma students do not get in to football games free.

I didn’t notice Clement taunting the fans, but I can say that Rice LB Brian Raines was taunting the UH student section the whole game. He was yapping at us, sticking his tongue out at us, and making crying gestures at us. Well, he was doing those things during the parts of the game that Rice was leading, at least. Whenever UH took the lead we couldn’t find him, for some reason.

I was in the front row of Section 123, and I don’t recall any UH students (or other UH fans) booing UH at any point. Only times I remember hearing booing is for Raines, who we really let have it, and for the MOB (who didn’t even deserve our attention, IMO). I certainly don’t think it’s fair to characterize our fan base as booing our own, as you did. (“The booing was uncalled for, but that’s the way UH fan behaves in football and basketball.”)

I am truly sorry and embarrassed that UH fans would be cursing around your family, but it really is more a statement about fans everywhere than it is about UH fans specifically. I’ve seen many sporting events across much of the United States, and UH fans are pretty tame, in my experience. But no matter where you go, there’s always a few idiots. I’ve been to probably a dozen San Diego Padres games, always supporting the away team, and I always get cussed at by one or two drunk idiots. And San Diego fans in general are the most laid-back group you’ll ever meet.

I don’t know what UH fans you’ve been talking to who want CAB fired, but that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard in quite a while.

[I simply believe that both programs deserve the full support of their fan base/student body/alumni, as well as that of the Greater Houston area. - MK]

We’re certainly in full agreement here. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve tried to talk a student into going to a football game this year, and I’ve gotten some lame “Oh, I’m going home this weekend” excuse, I wouldn’t need as many student loans as I do.

Sorry to keep posting, but according to here (http://www.click2houston.com/cbaskc33/11212104/detail.html) Houston has a 50-13 all-time series lead in basketball, and that was before UH won in the C-USA tourney last year. So I’m really trying to figure out in which sports we have trouble with Rice?

MK – I enjoyed your on-camera interview with Murph, even if you hogged the mike a bit. I told Murph he deserved it because of the tie he wore.

Apologies for the bad language around your family. That doesn’t happen in our section, although despite our older age I can tell you there were plenty of disgusted UH fans going into the 3Q.

I believe Clement made the biggest difference for awhile. We shouldn’t have been surprised by his performance — he’a a player! So now, who do you think should be the starting QB for UH?

[Now that I've seen Joseph and Keenum, I can see why CAB would do well to hit the lab and find a way to blend the two into one. Joseph has that rocket arm (!!!), and is fearless throwing down the field. Keenum throws too much underneath stuff, but he is elusive and has moxie. I'd lean more to Joseph, but I can see why Keenum plays. - MK]

Are you a pho-king idiot? UH had a Top 50 recruiting class last year, and will have a Top 40 recruiting class next year, according to Rivals and Scout.

Rice was somewhere near 100; slightly higher than Div. 1-AA…

Slighty better team??? Right……… This UH vs. Rice rivalry is all on Rice’s side…. UH doesn’t care about this game anymore.. It has won 5 out of the last 6 and hasn’t given up the bucket for more than 2 years at a given time.

J. I think you will find that our athletes graduate at a higher rate than UH’s and that has been the case for every year we have played you. I know you will say that isn’t an athletic event but then again the goal of going to college is to graduate whether you play a sport or not.

For Owl fans that is an important issue, hopefully someday it will be one for UH as well.

As for the future of the Bayou Bucket, I think Rice’s true freshmen will be taking care of it on South Main for most of their time before graduation. (After graduation, of course, the Owls keep winning in their careers.) The Coogs have been heavily favored the last two years, yet both times they have been lucky to escape with a narrow win. Without Avery and Alridge, UH would be nowhere.

Lack of discipline in turnovers, penalties, mistakes, and sloppy defense defines the Cougars and has done so for a long time.

Rice’s true freshmen did quite well in this weekend’s game:

–James Casey dragged a pride of Coogs 7 yards into the endzone — best play of the game.

–Justin Hill scored on a nice summersaulting power-run into the endzone.

–Randy Kitchens made a nice, quick-thinking interception that was disallowed — I thought it should have stood just for sheer beauty!

–And how many true freshmen were playing on defense? The defense will only get better, as they gain experience. The talent is obviously there.

The Owl defense certainly missed Brian Raines, who was ideal at stopping UH’s offense (17 tackles last year) and would have stopped many of those big plays that developed from runs or short passes in the backfield, but UH won’t be so lucky in the future.

This, of course, drives the Coogs nuts, because football is their last source of athletic pride. UH Basketball has been nothing special for many years, and let’s not even talk about baseball…

I would have to agree with you that UH does have more talent than us. We don’t have players and speed like Avery and Aldridge, but…

obviously we aren’t that far behind, given the results of last two season’s football games. Fairly close game. I can say our team defenses are about the same (crappy), and UH just has a few more great skilled players on offense that allows you guys to bust BIG plays.

On the historical side, UH obviously has us beat in head-to-head in football and basketball. But why do you stop at so-called “revenue” sports (which typically today aren’t even revenue generating but expending except for the most major of BCS schools)?

I think attendance was down because of the loss to Nicholls State. Everyone felt it was the same old Rice team and people will no longer tolerate it since it was proved Rice can be successful with the right combination of players and coaching staff. I thought Rice played up to their ability considering the injuries they had. Give Bailif a chance. He is noted for his recruiting and if he can get in some top recruits, Rice will be able to play with anyone.

MK if you don’t want your family around bad language build yourself a fort and put alligators and sharks around AND WHILE YOUR DOING THAT THROW OUT YOUR T.V AND RADIOS. It’s ridiculous for you to say what you said about UH fans. Have you ever gone to a Texans game? try UT. This is college football and people will curse and boo but thats what happens at these games. UH fans were upset becasue we have so much more talent than Rice does and we let Rice get us on our own mistakes, had it not been for our mistakes Rice would not have scored more than 14 points.

Why is it students’ job to watch football/basketball? I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment that students shouldn’t spend college doing nothing but studying and drinking. But in my experience, Rice students are attending cultural events, plays, musicals, study breaks, intramural and club sports, etc. They don’t attend varsity games because the athletes, on the whole, either ignore them or treat them like crap. So this athlete doesn’t exactly blame them.

Cougar fan here. I do have to say that I was really impressed with Rice’s playing. Until the 4th quarter Rice deserved to win. But that’s the angst of watching a UH football game–which may (unfortunately) lead to UH fan frustration.

That being said, I sat in the home section and didn’t hear any profanity. The only booing I heard came after MOBs duck performance. Tacky as usual. I thought MOB should have made fun of UT and their football/prison program. They could have had both the Rice and UH fans cheering. Oh well…

And I agree, I was amazed and disappointed at the lack of Rice fans. Even if the students left campus on a mini vacation, aren’t there ADULT/ALUMNI from Rice who live in Houston who support the team? Give us grief about only having 26,000 fans there; UH support is increasing. But c’mon if Rice had a decent showing, the stadium could have sold out.

Well, I went to the game. Bought my tickets through the Rice ticket office and my seats were about even with the end of the endzone. The best seats in the visitors section were at the goal line, so it was not the best of viewing circumstances. I am glad I was there in person, but had I known where my seats were when I purchased them, I probably would have opted to watch the game on the tube. And given that we were 20 point underdogs, I think that is what many Rice fans chose to do.

Coog fans who constantly point out the historical records in football and basketball are creating their own problems.

UH might be 50-13 all time (or whatever) in basketball, but at one point, they were something like 35-0. They’re basically 0.500 since the break-up of the SWC, and were 0-5 before winning the last two last year, so 2-5 over the last 3-5 years. In football it’s the same situation… a HUGE lead overall, and yes, three wins in a row… but again, since the SWC folded, basically 0.500.

Rice and UH aren’t the same, by any measure… but the athletic differences between them in the two sports they claim to care about are pretty slim… so WHAT does it do to their fan base when they lose to us, or even don’t blow us away?? Sure, they got 20,000 people (or whatever) to the game, but that is less than 10% of their alumni base… and while the majority of their enrollment may be part-time students… graduates are graduates. Our entire alumni base is only 40,000.

They conveniently talk about only caring about revenue sports, even though they don’t MAKE money as a department, yet when we talk about graduation rates, they say that has no place in the discussion. Huh?? This is a COLLEGE team, right?? Then they say baseball doesn’t matter, despite the fact that we have a National Championship and something like 13 conference championships in a row. How convenient once again. So Baseball and Graduation rates don’t matter, but what happened 20+ years ago does?? So why don’t you drop baseball and some non-revenue generating women’s sport and plow that money into basketball and football??

In this day and age… Rice can compete with UH in any sport. Sure… things ebb and flow… but we’re competitive whether you want us to be or not. The sooner Coog fans admit this to themselves, the sooner they’ll appreciate their team for what it is and cheer them on.

I brought up the historical records, but only in response to a Rice fan saying, “Consider the fact, however, that Houston rarely beats Rice at any sport”. Which is just silly.

I’m a huge baseball fan, so I don’t discount that at all. And Rice has had UH’s number in baseball recently. I don’t know about 13 conference championships in a row, seeing as how we’ve only been in the same conference for the past two seasons. But if y’all celebrated coming back from down 6 runs to beat us in a baseball game, and I were to then say, “Well, that’s okay, Rice rarely beats UH at any sport”…well, that would be silly.

J, next time you call somebody an idiot, get your facts straight. If you want to go by rivals, they ranked your class last year #89, with only four schools between UH and Rice. And half of the 3-star prospects in that class aren’t even on your roster.

As a long-time UH fan (Class of ’71), I want to apologize to MK and his family for the obscenities from UH fans. Although I didn’t hear any where I was sitting, I’m sure that some fans got caught up in the drama of the game and were out of line. It’s a shame more people aren’t respectful of others, especially families with children. I do my share of booing — especially when I think an official has made a terrible call — but I don’t use obscene language. My high school English teacher once told me that people who use obscenities have run out of intelligent things to say.

BTW, I enjoy reading your blog and your stories in the Chronicle, MK. You and Michael Murphy are both class acts.

Hambone, I beg to differ. UH is the third-largest university in Texas after Texas and Texas A&M. Our enrollment at the central campus alone is 10 times the enrollment at Rice. And, no, we don’t have a majority of “part-time students.” Most of our students are full-time, although most are commuter students who live off-campus. We’re hoping to change that. Our new Master Plan calls for a four-fold increase in student housing, which should result in greater student interest in univesity-sponsored activities, including athletics.

Rice is a great school, and I pull for the Owls anytime they’re not playing the Cougars. Houston is fortunate to have two great institutions like UH and Rice — one a great public educational and research university and the other renowned for its academics.

I’ll be happy to compare head-to-head wins in all sports, if you like, but UH has a significant edge in nearly all. Golf, swimming, volleyball — I challenge you to name the sport where Rice has a better than .500 record against the Cougars. I assure you there aren’t many.

If UH fans think the Cougars should beat Rice in every football game, it is because they should. Wouldn’t you expect Penn State to consistently defeat the University of Pennsylvania? Ditto for Tennessee versus Vanderbilt, LSU and Tulane, and North Carolina and Duke.

Personally, I think that Rice should be in a conference with other private schools. It would just be a better fit for you. I think you could have a fine conference with the likes of Rice, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Baylor, SMU, TCU, Tulsa and Duke. Every member of this Ivy League South conference would be more competitive than they are in their current situation.

Rice has a difficult time recruiting because their academic requirements are high. Trying to keep up in that academic environment is also a challenge and one that many don’t want to bother with. I also wanted to say the UH band made more fun of Rice (Real MEN of Genius) than the MOB could have ever done. The “Rice Girls Are Ugly” sign was just mean, and I am surprised they were allowed to show it.

Let me get this straight–you are complaining about the U of H band making fun of Rice? Hello? Have you heard of the MOB? Hello pot, this is kettle.

I thought it was perfect. U of H acknowledged all of Rice’s accomplishments, you do better in the alphabet soup of academics (“ACT, SAT, MBA, Ph.D….etc. including BLT!) while the U of H band got their gig in about Rice lacking a band hall. Big deal.

Although I do agree with you about the inappropriateness of the shirt.